This Architecture Student Created a Minecraft Version of UP

College campuses hold a special place our hearts. Beyond school pride, they’re the places where we learned the lessons that formed us and made unforgettable memories. As an open campus and state university, UP Diliman is iconic even to those who haven’t studied in its hallowed halls. And last week, architecture student JB Cunanan paid tribute to his beloved school by recreating it in Minecraft.

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Quezon Hall

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Palma Hall

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The UP Diliman Faculty Center

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The UP Carillon

“High school pa lang ako, I was already playing Minecraft doing buildings and stuff. And when I entered architecture school in UP, I already had a big fascination with UP landmarks,” Cunanan explains. “So in my free time, I started doing UP buildings. Originally, I only planned to create the Quezon Hall, but after I finished it I decided to include other buildings—Palma Hall, popularly known as "AS"; Faculty Center, which was already burned down last April 2016; the Carillon; and UP Theater.”

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It took Cunanan a week or so to recreate each building using mods. “The construction was relatively easy, the harder part was in ensuring I got the scale and architectural details as accurately as possible kahit puro boxes lang ang Minecraft,” he explains.

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“But I guess what made me create more is my connection to these buildings. Just like every other UP student, these buildings were very important to us, hindi lang dahil UP buildings sila and UP students kami, but because how these halls were a witness to the collective stories and struggles of all Iskolar ng bayan,” Cunanan says. “Kumbaga, dito kami natuto ng mga ideas that surround our world, in the arts, sciences, humanities, philosophy, at dito kami nagka-love life—if meron.”

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“Moreover, dito rin kami na-challenge to step out of our comfort zones, be critical, and be ready na mamulat sa tunay na kalagayan ng lipunan,” he continues. “More importantly, these halls also became witness din—since Martial Law era up until now—kung papaano kumilos ang bawat UP students, along with the masses, to spark genuine social change inside and outside the university.”

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Of course, no recreation of UP is complete without protests. Cunanan’s Minecraft world includes demonstrators holding up signs about real-world protests.

“I decided to include protests against the US-Duterte regime and his administration's anti-poor tax reform because first, I wanted to reflect how the Iskolar ng Bayan are ready to be with the masses and wholeheartedly fight with them in forwarding their genuine interest—land, wage, work, education, human rights, just peace,” he explains.

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“Second, to show that in these times na lalo pang lumalala ang anti-people, fascist, and tyrannical nature ng Philippine administration, kahit social media ay dapat minamaximize natin to arouse, organize, and mobilize, and be utilized to transform online action into an on-ground mass movement.”